Where to Locate Dinghy

[Alecadi]

Originally Posted by sarafina

Idea 1. from James would be ideal.. and I resemble your admiral in stature.

Bash hadda take the wheel from me once cause I couldn't see over the people and his boat to steer a course round Angel island ; -)

idea 2. heh. well maybe not so much but I am guessing that your clear understanding of the chain of command (she's always right) means you know when to not rabble rouse either....

To add to my answer to James the Admiral is 5'8" ... if I get a taller one I'll be the one needing the box....
So with such good advices I'll keep my first idea:
I'try deflating the dinghy a few inches.. less risky.

[James Baines]

Originally Posted by Alecadi

To add to my answer to James the Admiral is 5'8" ... if I get a taller one I'll be the one needing the box....
So with such good advices I'll keep my first idea:
I'try deflating the dinghy a few inches.. less risky.

Actually, I was sort of serious about the box to stand on: In our case, it's the life raft that sits up a little higher than the inflatable and it caused My boss to complain so I took one of those cheap plastic moulded steps we had at the house, cut the legs down, put none skid rubber on the leg bottoms which made a simple and lightweight step about 4 inches high which does the job for my boss. (I know who’s boss on my boat and it sure as hell is not me)…James

[Alecadi]

If I get it right: I can keep the Admiral and get a box...
Good idea Jim...
Tks
Alec

[sarafina]

On my grandpa's boats I always had a wooden box. very stable and solid, carpeted so it wasn't slippery.

Our boats are little so it isn't a problem now.

I would worry that a step-stool might be too top heavy... able to tip if the boat heels or hits a swell or whatever. The wood box was made from scrap wood, ply prolly, and covered in spare indoor outdoor carpet of a particularly putrid shade of blue.

It never went anywhere, it had a way to lock down to the deck. I'd want anything I was standing on to steer secured to the deck or something unmovable.

[Alecadi]

Originally Posted by sarafina

On my grandpa's boats I always had a wooden box. very stable and solid, carpeted so it wasn't slippery.

Our boats are little so it isn't a problem now.

I would worry that a step-stool might be too top heavy... able to tip if the boat heels or hits a swell or whatever. The wood box was made from scrap wood, ply prolly, and covered in spare indoor outdoor carpet of a particularly putrid shade of blue.

It never went anywhere, it had a way to lock down to the deck. I'd want anything I was standing on to steer secured to the deck or something unmovable.

Thank you Sara, that would be a nice Mother's Day gift for the Admiral (or Great Mother day...).. hehe

[cfarrar]

Now , I don't see sh*t in front of us.." the damn dinghy is blocking the view..

Funny, that's one of the main reasons we use davits for sailing in Maine... We can't see the darn lobster pots with the dinghy on the foredeck! I'm thinking the next boat will be full keel/rudder so we can just run over the pots!

[Alecadi]

Originally Posted by cfarrar

Funny, that's one of the main reasons we use davits for sailing in Maine... We can't see the darn lobster pots with the dinghy on the foredeck! I'm thinking the next boat will be full keel/rudder so we can just run over the pots!

The idea is to trail it behind the sailboat when cruising.. so then the visbility will be restored...
The problem is just when the dinghy is on deck

[zeehag]

there is a safe way to tow in fla area--- hang dink with nose aft and down, right side up so water doesnt get into dink, and keep the stern elevated so only nose is in water.... things that work on west coast don't necessarily work in fla.... esp on the gulf side.....
your admiral is my height....i can see over my walker bay on bow, and i have a full keel with attached rudder so i dont worry too much about crab and lobster traps....too much

[Alecadi]

Originally Posted by zeehag

there is a safe way to tow in fla area--- hang dink with nose aft and down, right side up so water doesnt get into dink, and keep the stern elevated so only nose is in water.... things that work on west coast don't necessarily work in fla.... esp on the gulf side.....
your admiral is my height....i can see over my walker bay on bow, and i have a full keel with attached rudder so i dont worry too much about crab and lobster traps....too much

Interesting...
Never saw a dinghy towed like that around here...
The way I intended to do it was by the bow, with double tow line to cleat it to the stern of the sailboat, and near the sail boat so that the bow of the dinghy keeps high on the water.

Do you think it's the wrong way?
I'm afraid that towing the dinghy by it's stern will provoke too much drag, don't you think so?
Alec

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by Alecadi

Interesting...
Never saw a dinghy towed like that around here...
The way I intended to do it was by the bow, with double tow line to cleat it to the stern of the sailboat, and near the sail boat so that the bow of the dinghy keeps high on the water.

Do you think it's the wrong way?
I'm afraid that towing the dinghy by it's stern will provoke too much drag, don't you think so?
Alec

i would keep the transom in air on th e sternrail of your mothership as ye tows it--- the bow fittings have a tendency to loosen and tear off the dinks as they are towed, many times--is how they are found in pacific when they liberate selves from their mother ships.....

[Alecadi]

Originally Posted by zeehag

i would keep the transom in air on th e sternrail of your mothership as ye tows it--- the bow fittings have a tendency to loosen and tear off the dinks as they are towed, many times--is how they are found in pacific when they liberate selves from their mother ships.....

Thanks for the tip.. I'll try it.
Alec

[Jim Cate]

G'Day Alec,

On our previous boat (36') we had a biggish soft-floor inflatable (3.8 M). We'd disassemble it for passages, but it was a real PITA, so we towed it coastally... lots of miles. Scared the crap out of us a few times, too, thought we would loose it, but never did. Lucky, I think...

The real difficulty is towing downwind in a bit of wind. The dinghy surfs much more readily than the yacht does, so it would suddenly take off wildly down a wave, sometimes whacking into the wind vane. This puts a lot of slack in the painter, and soon the dink looses the wave, slows down, slews sideways... and then the slack gets taken out and the dink gets a hell of a jerk. Never flipped it but came close a few times.

So, we made up a tiny series drogue for it. It only took two cones (when I tried it with six which was my first guess it nearly tore my arm off when deployed motoring at 4 knots). This puts enough drag on the dink that it never surfs, it lies docilely at the end of the painter and behaves far better. Adds to the speed loss of towing, but was well worth it for us. We made the cones out of some scrap Herculite (PVC coated fabric), used an old dock line for the line and put a couple of feet of chain on the end to keep it submerged. We use it today on our RIB when we want to tow it...

Cheers,

Jim

[markpierce]

Thanks for the idea, Jim.

[Alecadi]

Thanks Jim.
Another way is to tie the dinghy slightly on the side not directly from the middle of the stern of the main boat and get it very near to the main boat with a short painter..
Just repeating what an experienced sailor told me and I saw it on his boat.. never tried on mine so far
Anyway we intend to tow the dinghy only on short coastal hopping and with good weather. passages and strong weather "daytwo" will be back on the foredeck in no time !!
Alec

[Play Actor]

We've had good luck towing our RIB on a pair of very short lines attached to the bow eye and run up to stern cleats on the big boat -- one on each side. We take the engine and everything else out of the dinghy. We've towed it this way for many hundreds of miles up and down the islands in the eastern Caribbean, with no problems. It's much more satisfactory than towing on a long painter. The dinghy rides just behind the crest of the wave coming off the stern, bow high. In a few cases with wind behind us and a following sea, it gets pushed up against the transom, but the tether is so short that it doesn't have much momentum, so it just bumps gently. The lines are about 4 feet long, so they never end up in the water, eliminating the hazard of fouling the prop when anchoring. We've had no problems with the dinghy, even in breaking seas on the quarter that filled the cockpit with green water several times in an hour. The dignhy stayed dry.

For an extended passage, we still put it on the foredeck, but under normal conditions between the islands in open seas, we tow it. We also carry a hard dinghy on a pair of strong davits, and have done so for years, under all conditions with no problems.